October 8, 2024

Bridget Johns, District Manager (Cumberland) gives an update on our Community Connectors project:

In August 2022 we launched our Community Connectors project with the aim of connecting communities who seldom have their voices heard with decision-making that directly impacts them. This two-year project, funded by The National Lottery Community Fund, is finishing on 31st October 2024.

Over the last couple of months we have worked with an external organisation, Campion Creatives, to carry out an evaluation of the project. People involved in the evaluation are the volunteer Community Connectors, external stakeholders and Cumbria CVS staff involved with direct delivery and project management.

It has definitely been a challenging project to be involved with, especially with staff recruitment and retention. However, I know that the project has had a huge positive impact on some of the communities that have been involved. We also have a variety of learning that we can incorporate (and some of it we already have) into our operational practices across the organisation.

I look forward to sharing the evaluation report with you once it’s been published.

I’d like to finish by saying a huge thank you to the 29 people who have given their time to be a Community Connector. They have represented communities including sensory loss, refugees and people seeking asylum, mental health, neurodiversity, LGBTQ and homeless survivors of rape, sexual abuse or sexualised violence. We really do appreciate their commitment and it has been a privilege to be a part of their journey.